Grace Blue, the global executive search firm, has opened its new Sports, Media & Entertainment practice, and appointed Tim Palmer, formerly SVP Global Recruitment of Endeavor, as Managing Partner. He will lead the new Practice which will operate alongside Grace Blue’s existing practices for Consumer Brands and Agencies and follows a sustained increase in briefs for Sports, Media & Entertainment clients including the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, Scottish Rugby Union, Lego, Amazon, and Spotify.
As lead, Palmer’s remit will be to build on this emerging area and help meet the growing demand from Sports, Media & Entertainment companies wishing to attract talent from beyond their own competitive sets to accelerate business transformation. Palmer has two decades of experience in the Global Sports, Media & Entertainment space, working for Executive Search firms as well as leading in-house functions within Broadcast (Sky), Publishing (HarperCollins), Music (Universal Music). Most recently, he oversaw recruitment for global entertainment, sports & content company, Endeavor (WME, IMG, 160over90, Endeavor Streaming & On Location).
Juliet Timms, Founder & Global CEO, Grace Blue, said: “The UK is set to become the largest European market in Media & Entertainment with strong growth forecast across the category worldwide. This is the perfect moment to launch our new dedicated Sports, Media & Entertainment practice and I’m excited that Tim is joining our business to help us make the very best of the opportunity.”
Tim Palmer, Managing Partner, Grace Blue, said: “I’ve known Juliet, Jay, and Sarah for a number of years and, as a former Grace Blue client, I’m thrilled to now join the business and lead the Sports, Media & Entertainment Practice. The massive changes seen in this sector have opened the talent market significantly, creating opportunities for innovative individuals from Agency, Brand and Consumer worlds to join and drive transformation. Grace Blue is uniquely positioned to help existing and new clients find the right talent and I’m excited to be a part of this.”
Sarah Skinner, CEO, EMEA, Grace Blue, added: “Business models in the Sports, Media & Entertainment category are having to radically adapt in response to huge changes in consumer behaviour brought about by new technologies and by the pandemic. This requires new skills and fresh perspectives from leadership teams, especially around areas of data and insights, creativity, technology, commercialisation, and audience engagement. Our new practice will help companies find the transformational leadership talent they need to succeed and thrive.”
About The Sports, Media & Entertainment Sector in the UK
· The UK is set to overtake Germany in becoming Europe’s biggest E&M market in the coming years. PWC values the UK E&M market at £83bn in 2022, with further growth of 4% per annum through to 2026 with a value of £97bn – the second-fastest rate of growth of any western European market. (Source: PwC Outlook)
· In media, entertainment and sports, business models must be rapidly adapted in response to new needs and lifestyles. Leaders who seek diverse ideas will be in position to foresee radically different audiences and prepared to accommodate them. Today’s M&E companies must reimagine their business models to keep pace with changing consumption behaviours and non-traditional competitor. (Source: Grant Thornton)
· In the coming year, media & entertainment will continue to evolve quickly, not only reckoning with ongoing trends and disruptions within the industry, but also in its continued response to pandemic-led behavioural changes. The media and entertainment industry, embedded in the business of imagination, is riding a wave of tremendous opportunity amid the turbulence that attends times of significant change (Source: Deloitte)
· The global sports market is expected to grow from $354.96 billion in 2021 to $501.43 billion in 2022 (Sports Global Market Report 2022) The sports market is expected to reach $599.9 billion by 2025, and $826.0 billion by 2030. (Source: The Business Research Company)
· The health & wellness trend combined with consumers transferring spend to leisure activities will ensure the market outperforms non-food retail – up 17.8% over the next five years versus 11.2% for non-food (Source: The UK Sports Market 2017 – 2022)
· The overall growth path is both clear and strong and the increasing availability of compelling E&M content, services and experiences will attract a greater share of consumers’ attention. For businesses, however, intense competition and continual disruption remain the order of the day. That means strategy can’t remain static. (Source: PWC Outlook 2022-2026).
About The Sports, Media & Entertainment Sector in the US
- The global entertainment & media industry has regained its momentum, bouncing back from the contraction of 2020 to resume its growth path, with revenues rising a strong 10.4 in 2021. By 2026, the global E&M industry will approach US $3 trillion in revenues. (Source: PwC Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2022-2026)
- The market size of the US E&M industry is $717 billion, with 1.87 million employees. Approximately 6.9% of the total US GDP comes from the E&M industry. (Source: SelectUSA; US Bureau of Labor Statistics)
- Approximately 70% of the companies in the E&M sector should see 10% or higher revenue growth in 2022. (Source: Morgan Stanley)
- In media, entertainment and sports, business models must be rapidly adapted in response to new needs and lifestyles. Leaders who seek diverse ideas will be in position to foresee radically different audiences and prepared to accommodate them. Today’s M&E companies must reimagine their business models to keep pace with changing consumption behaviors and non-traditional competitor. (Source: Grant Thornton)
- In the coming year, media & entertainment will continue to evolve quickly, not only reckoning with ongoing trends and disruptions within the industry, but also in its continued response to pandemic-led behavioral changes. The media and entertainment industry, embedded in the business of imagination, is riding a wave of tremendous opportunity amid the turbulence that attends times of significant change (Source: Deloitte)
- The global sports market is expected to grow from $354.96 billion in 2021 to $501.43 billion in 2022 (Sports Global Market Report 2022) The sports market is expected to reach $599.9 billion by 2025, and $826.0 billion by 2030. (Source: The Business Research Company)
- In 2022 the US sports industry will continue to see an influx of money from new sources, shifting power dynamics in college sports, more widespread use of emerging technologies, and a greater focus on broader societal issues. (Source: Deloitte 2022 Sports Industry Outlook)
- The overall growth path is both clear and strong and the increasing availability of compelling E&M content, services and experiences will attract a greater share of consumers’ attention. For businesses, however, intense competition and continual disruption remain the order of the day. That means strategy can’t remain static. (Source: PWC Outlook 2022-2026).
About The Sports, Media & Entertainment Sector in APAC
- Sports media revenues across 14 markets in Asia Pacific are set to grow at 6% CAGR over 2021–2026 to reach US $9 billion. Sports media revenue growth and recovery in 2021-22 has been led by Australia, China, India, Korea, Indonesia and Thailand. Four markets – Australia, China, India and Japan – will contribute more than 82% to revenues in 2022, growing to 83% by 2026. (Source: Media Partners Asia)
- The growing demand for OTT streaming in audiovisual content is impacting the overall media and entertainment positively in Asia Pacific. The primary factors for the growth of the entertainment industry can be attributed to the increased adoption of online video streaming, notably Netflix, Amazon Prime, among others. During the pandemic, social distancing and staying home have a significant effect on media consumption as TV viewing, social media conversations, and indoor lifestyle-friendly application usage have rapidly increased. (Source: Mordor Intelligence)
- In 2022, online video’s share of APAC sports revenues will grow to 33% versus 28% in 2021, and is expected to reach 42% by 2026. Major market drivers of online video sports market share growth include Australia & New Zealand; China; India; Indonesia; Singapore; and Taiwan. TV will remain critical in India, Japan, Korea and Malaysia but its overall share of APAC sports revenues will fall from 72% in 2021 to 58% by 2026. (Source: Media Partners Asia)
- The Asia-Pacific media and entertainment market is growing due to rising disposable income of middle-class consumers. Increased employment of youth has resulted in greater demand in the entertainment sector. Moreover, the increasing demand for local content has given rise to higher investment in local media. (Source: Mordor Intelligence)
- In fact, Asia-Pacific was the largest E&M region by revenue in 2021. However its per capita spend is at US$224. By contrast, North America commands the highest E&M spend per capita at US$2,229. (PwC Outlook 2022-2026).